Preventing Spinal Degeneration with Chiropractic

As we age, we all start to develop aches and pains that affect our quality of life. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to stay active and healthy as we get older? Well, there is!

Chiropractic is an effective way to maintain the health of your spine and prevent spinal degeneration. Let’s see how chiropractic can help.

Your spine is very strong and flexible. It contains bones called vertebrae that are separated by tough, fibrous intervertebral discs. The discs cushion the vertebrae and allow the bones of your spine to move smoothly without pain.

The spine is held together with tough bands called ligaments, and hundreds of muscles are attached to it that help us maintain posture and allow us to move.

As we age and experience decades of injuries and wear and tear on our spines, the discs, ligaments, and muscles that support us begin to develop scar tissue, lose their flexibility, and become rigid.

The flexible discs begin to dry out and shrink, causing the joints to not be able to move as smoothly as they did when we were young.

If we have untreated injuries or decades of bad posture, some of these joints may become completely immobile and fixated. The ligaments that hold the joints together can actually begin to calcify, causing the bones of your spine to fuse.

These inflexible areas of your spine reduce your body’s mobility and can result in chronic pain. The areas of the spine above and below the fixated joints compensate for the stiff areas and are exposed to excessive motion. This can cause them to become inflamed and painful, too. This can put pressure or pinch the nerves that travel from your spinal cord to other parts of your body.

Chiropractic can help you keep your spine flexible as you age, and help prevent spinal degeneration.

Your chiropractor finds those areas of the spine that are beginning to become fixated or immobile, and adjusts them. This spinal adjustment works by stretching the joint capsule and breaking up scar tissue. Adjustment also activates special nerves in the spinal joints that break up pain signals in the spinal cord and help the muscles in the area relax.

By keeping your spine healthy and flexible throughout your life, you can prevent pain and disability later in life caused by spinal degeneration.

So, if you’re starting to feel aches and pains in your back, or you’ve experienced an injury, do something about it today so you’ll have a healthy back later in life.